At The End Of The Universe
by Chris7221
Summary: They've finally cracked the code in the background radiation Destiny has been tracking, and it's not what anyone expected. All this has happened before... sort of. Oneshot, maybe didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.


Probably a stupid idea but this has been floating around in my head for a while and I figured I should put it down. Originally, I envisioned it as a neat prologue to a badass ending to a movie-based continuation. Really, the recording should come _before_ the credits, ideally it would just be the beginning and it would fade to black after.

Eh, it all sounded better in my head. The whole thing ended up coming across way more ironic than I intended originally among other things.

To make it absolutely clear, the people here are RDA's O'Neill and Shanks's Jackson.

* * *

 **At The End Of The Universe**

The gray-haired man hummed to himself as he sat on a folding chair by the water's edge, beer in one hand and fishing rod in the other. He finished off the bottle of beer, put it down, then reeled in his line before tossing it out again. It would be a fruitless endeavour, he knew, but that wasn't the point, and he enjoyed this type of "fishing" immensely.

Jack O'Neill's bliss was interrupted by his phone loudly ringing. He briefly considered tossing the offending object into the pond before sighing and picking up the call. "What?"

Daniel Jackson's voice immediately launched into an explanation. "It's the pattern in the cosmic microwave background radiation from the Destiny. I know you'll zone out if I try, so I won't bore you with the details, but we've finally decoded it and managed to get something meaningful out of it- are you fishing?"

"I'm retired, Daniel," he reminded. "You found your meaning of life stuff?"

"Yes and no. Let's just say it's not what we expected, at all," Daniel described quickly. "Look, Jack, you're going to want to hear this for yourself."

"I was really hoping to get some fishing in before the anniversary," Jack protested. "We're going to Paris this year, Daniel. _Paris_. Not Denver again. For two weeks. Do you know how hard it is for the commander of the SGC to get that kind of leave?"

"I _really_ think you're going to want to hear this, Jack," Daniel pressed.

"Daniel, fishing. Anniversary. Paris."

Daniel couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, Jack, you know there's no fish in that pond."

His friend cut him off. "That's not strictly true!"

"Well, that's too bad, because you're going to listen to it anyway." With that, Daniel hung up. Seconds later, an old fashioned tape recorder appeared in front of him in a flash of light.

"Really, Daniel?" Unable to ignore it, the retired general picked up the recorder and hit the play button.

"This is Colonel Jack O'Neil of the United States Air Force," a firm voice buzzed from the speaker. "I think the shield's failing. I can hear air rushing out, and it's getting really hot in here. I don't know how much time I have left. I've got to make this quick."

"About a century back, we found a weird stone ring in Egypt. A few years ago, we figured out what it did and how to use it. Turns out it's an intergalactic gateway. You just step through, and end up on another planet. We called it a Stargate- it seemed like as good a name as any."

"On the other side, we found Ra. Yes, that Ra. He's an alien who enslaved humans a long time ago- or, he was, anyway. We blew up his ship before he could come back, started a rebellion on that world, buried the gate and figured it was done."

"Then he came back for more, somehow. Of course, it couldn't be as simple as shooting Ra in the head or nuking his ship again. That would be too easy. I guess you can't kill a god, even a false god, the same way as a human. I… it was bad. But we managed to win again, I think."

"We sabotaged his stardrive- I sabotaged his stardrive. Could never imagine where it would send us. This is it. The end, the beginning. Time doesn't exactly exist here- I don't know, I'm not a scientist. The Big Bang is about to happen, and when it does, there won't be much of us left."

"I don't know what's going to happen next. Maybe there'll be a chorus of angels and a big set of gates. Maybe nothing. It's… I'm scared. I'm the last one left alive on this tub. Never thought it would end this way. Should have. At any cost, the words are in the oath."

"I don't know who will hear this. I don't think anyone will ever hear this. But just in case someone does… well, now you know my story. Maybe enough to avoid it. Maybe you can wipe out Ra for good the first time, maybe never meet him in the first place. Maybe sending it all back like this, it'll all be gone, erased from existence. I could live with that."

"Daniel, well, you were right. Someone believed in you, despite all the odds. So don't give up, buddy, wherever you are. Maybe this time around, there won't be any aliens. Maybe there won't be any pyramids at all. But maybe you'll have the last laugh."

"Sara, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what happened to Charlie. I'm sorry that I just walked out after that, and I'm sorry for all the shitty things I've done. I love you. God, I'm sorry."

"And Jack- well, this is a little freaky, but here goes. First, put your fucking gun away. Second, no matter what happens, stick by Sara. Or at least quit while you're ahead, find a way that doesn't hurt her so much. But… the Air Force was the right choice. And if someone comes asking you to come along on a suicide mission, do it, because one way or another it'll change your life."

"Colonel Jack O'Neil, out."


End file.
